For 45 years The Saul Zaentz Company was a fount of great American independent cinema, creating motion pictures of the highest artistic merit. Saul Zaentz produced ten films, three of which won the Academy Award® for Best Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus and The English Patient. In all, the Company produced some ten beautifully crafted vintage films. Thus in 1996, Saul received the ultimate Motion Picture Academy recognition, the only periodically bestowed Irving G Thalberg Memorial Award for creative producers whose bodies of work reflect consistently high quality of motion picture excellence.
In 1976, the Saul Zaentz Company successfully negotiated the acquisition from United Artists of rights to exploit the J. R. R. Tolkien works. These rights included film rights, videogame rights and licensing rights to exploitations based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. In 1978, the Zaentz Company made and released the acclaimed animated version of The Lord of the Rings, directed by Ralph Bakshi. The company subsequently sub-licensed film rights to New Line Cinema/Warner Bros to make motion pictures based on these works. A release in 2001 marked the beginning of the box office smash and critically acclaimed Peter Jackson directed Lord of the Rings trilogy, followed by the successful three movies based on The Hobbit. Over this period from 1976 through late 2022, the Zaentz Company licensed hit videogames and a wide array of Tolkien branded merchandise and developed a worldwide portfolio of hundreds of trademarks to protect the rights.
In October, 2022, after an intense 18 month process involving over thirty companies interested in acquiring the rights, all of the Zaentz owned Tolkien rights - - including rights to the Bakshi film and the New Line/Warner film royalties - - were sold for $395 million dollars to Middle Earth Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Swedish video game company Embracer Group.
One year later, the Zaentz motion picture portfolio was sold to a company owned in major part by Paul Zaentz, a nephew of Saul’s. Paul had joined the Zaentz Company in the mid-70’s and was deeply involved in the making of all the Company’ films after Cuckoo’s Nest, serving alternatively as Controller, Producer and/or Executive Producer and working creatively on the international sets of the production of the films.
The Company, having disposed of its key assets, is currently in the process of dissolution and winding down but its legacy and its founders’ legacy in the film and entertainment business will certainly endure.
In 1976, the Saul Zaentz Company successfully negotiated the acquisition from United Artists of rights to exploit the J. R. R. Tolkien works. These rights included film rights, videogame rights and licensing rights to exploitations based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. In 1978, the Zaentz Company made and released the acclaimed animated version of The Lord of the Rings, directed by Ralph Bakshi. The company subsequently sub-licensed film rights to New Line Cinema/Warner Bros to make motion pictures based on these works. A release in 2001 marked the beginning of the box office smash and critically acclaimed Peter Jackson directed Lord of the Rings trilogy, followed by the successful three movies based on The Hobbit. Over this period from 1976 through late 2022, the Zaentz Company licensed hit videogames and a wide array of Tolkien branded merchandise and developed a worldwide portfolio of hundreds of trademarks to protect the rights.
In October, 2022, after an intense 18 month process involving over thirty companies interested in acquiring the rights, all of the Zaentz owned Tolkien rights - - including rights to the Bakshi film and the New Line/Warner film royalties - - were sold for $395 million dollars to Middle Earth Enterprises, a subsidiary of the Swedish video game company Embracer Group.
One year later, the Zaentz motion picture portfolio was sold to a company owned in major part by Paul Zaentz, a nephew of Saul’s. Paul had joined the Zaentz Company in the mid-70’s and was deeply involved in the making of all the Company’ films after Cuckoo’s Nest, serving alternatively as Controller, Producer and/or Executive Producer and working creatively on the international sets of the production of the films.
The Company, having disposed of its key assets, is currently in the process of dissolution and winding down but its legacy and its founders’ legacy in the film and entertainment business will certainly endure.